California Nurses Association

A tentative, five-year contract agreement reached Friday between the California Nurses Assn. and Kaiser Permanente would exempt nurses at 70 Kaiser facilities in the state from a highly anticipated federal ruling that could limit the ability of nurses to join a union. A spokeswoman for Kaiser confirmed there was a tentative agreement but declined to comment further.

The California Nurses Assn. on Wednesday secured a temporary restraining order against the Service Employees International Union, accusing it of harassing the board members of the Oakland-based group. The two influential nationwide unions have a long, acrimonious rivalry that reached a new height in March after they publicly battled over whether the SEIU should represent more than 8,000 nurses and other healthcare workers in Ohio. The dispute flared again at a labor conference in Dearborn, Mich.

Her name is Rose Ann DeMoro, but in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office she might be better known as Trouble. DeMoro is the 56-year-old, Missouri-born, Bruce Springsteen-loving executive director of the California Nurses Assn., a 60,000-member labor union that has led the fight against much of Schwarzenegger's policy agenda. In David-vs.-Goliath fashion, the battle appears to be going DeMoro's way.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. said it reached a contract agreement with the California Nurses Assn. for staff at nine Tenet hospitals in California. The Dallas-based hospital operator said the agreement was subject to a ratification vote by the nurses. Wages would increase 4% after a year and an additional 2.5% six months after the first raise.

The regional office of the National Labor Relations Board has dismissed all objections by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to a vote by its nurses to unionize, paving the way for organization of registered nurses at the largest private hospital in the West. The victory by the California Nurses Assn. comes as another hospital district in the Antelope Valley officially recognized the right of the same union to represent registered nurses there.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. said Wednesday that it signed a pact with California's largest registered nurses union, a move aimed at buying labor peace and helping the troubled hospital company meet the mandates of a new state law on nurse staffing. Under the accord with the California Nurses Assn., Tenet said, CNA nurses at Tenet hospitals in the state would receive pay raises of 8% in the first year and 7% in the next two years.

The California Nurses Assn. was granted a charter this week to join the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor organization. The move, approved Thursday by the AFL-CIO during a meeting in Las Vegas, unites the country's largest labor federation, which has 10 million members and 54 unions, with a union of 75,000 registered nurses known for political protests and for aggressive organizing. Both sides had sought the alliance.

After taking a major role in defeating Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot initiatives last year, California nurses Monday proposed one that would strictly limit spending on political campaigns. The measure would ban corporate donations to candidates and to ballot-measure fights, and create a system of public financing for those running for office. Candidates who rejected the financing could accept only relatively small contributions -- $500 for legislative races, $1,000 for statewide offices.

A Sacramento judge dropped contempt proceedings Thursday against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying his move to delay tougher nurse staffing standards in hospitals was not a "willful" attempt to violate a court order. Schwarzenegger suspended until 2008 a requirement that hospitals have at least one nurse for every five patients. The California Nurses Assn. challenged the action and, earlier this month, the judge issued a permanent injunction blocking Schwarzenegger's order.

Putting aside a decade of differences, California's two largest health-care unions, the Service Employees International Union and the California Nurses Assn., announced an agreement to join forces in disputes with the corporate health-care industry. The unions said they would work together to protect staffing levels and oppose health-care cuts during the ongoing state budget crisis.

The California Nurses Assn. was granted a charter this week to join the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor organization. The move, approved Thursday by the AFL-CIO during a meeting in Las Vegas, unites the country's largest labor federation, which has 10 million members and 54 unions, with a union of 75,000 registered nurses known for political protests and for aggressive organizing. Both sides had sought the alliance.

A tentative, five-year contract agreement reached Friday between the California Nurses Assn. and Kaiser Permanente would exempt nurses at 70 Kaiser facilities in the state from a highly anticipated federal ruling that could limit the ability of nurses to join a union. A spokeswoman for Kaiser confirmed there was a tentative agreement but declined to comment further.

After taking a major role in defeating Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot initiatives last year, California nurses Monday proposed one that would strictly limit spending on political campaigns. The measure would ban corporate donations to candidates and to ballot-measure fights, and create a system of public financing for those running for office. Candidates who rejected the financing could accept only relatively small contributions -- $500 for legislative races, $1,000 for statewide offices.

A Sacramento judge dropped contempt proceedings Thursday against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying his move to delay tougher nurse staffing standards in hospitals was not a "willful" attempt to violate a court order. Schwarzenegger suspended until 2008 a requirement that hospitals have at least one nurse for every five patients. The California Nurses Assn. challenged the action and, earlier this month, the judge issued a permanent injunction blocking Schwarzenegger's order.

Her name is Rose Ann DeMoro, but in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office she might be better known as Trouble. DeMoro is the 56-year-old, Missouri-born, Bruce Springsteen-loving executive director of the California Nurses Assn., a 60,000-member labor union that has led the fight against much of Schwarzenegger's policy agenda. In David-vs.-Goliath fashion, the battle appears to be going DeMoro's way.

Kelly Di Giacomo said she received a call Tuesday from one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's bodyguards, asking how she got into the "Be Cool" film screening attended here last week by the governor. Di Giacomo, a nurse at a Kaiser hospital near Sacramento who had been detained at the theater for questioning, asked why she would be considered a threat to Schwarzenegger. The bodyguard replied: "Well, you were wearing a nurse's uniform," Di Giacomo said.

After struggling for months to unionize, registered nurses at Antelope Valley Hospital have approved their first-ever collective-bargaining agreement, which includes pay raises of 18% to 38% over three years, the California Nurses Assn. said. Under the agreement, approved by the union and the hospital board last week, 535 nurses would earn as much as $46.41 an hour, association officials said.

The California Nurses Assn. scheduled a one-day strike on Oct. 23 at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center after contract talks broke down Friday. The union, which represents the hospital's 1,300 registered nurses, said the top unresolved issues involve pensions, salaries for veteran nurses and safe staffing levels. Nurses at Long Beach Memorial voted last year to join the union.

A group of California Catholic hospitals and the union representing 4,000 registered nurses reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract Tuesday. The proposed three-year deal would result in wage increases ranging from 18% to 29%, ban mandatory overtime and improve the nurses' pension and other benefits, said Chuck Idelson, spokesman for the California Nurses Assn.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. said Wednesday that it signed a pact with California's largest registered nurses union, a move aimed at buying labor peace and helping the troubled hospital company meet the mandates of a new state law on nurse staffing. Under the accord with the California Nurses Assn., Tenet said, CNA nurses at Tenet hospitals in the state would receive pay raises of 8% in the first year and 7% in the next two years.